. >> just connections susan collins was making. i want to move on and just talk about the president. we haven't seen president obama say, obviously, outright, she is my top pick. but we saw her really sort of -- saw him vehemently defending her recently. let me replay that. president obama. >> for them to go after the u.n. ambassador, who had nothing to do with benghazi, and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence she had received, and to besmirch her reputation is outrageous. >> tell me about their background. they go back to his 2008 election? >> they go back even further. she was an adviser to him when he was a senator from illinois. and it goes back, tony lake was his -- the former national security adviser, democrat, in the clinton administration, and he sort of introduced those two. so she has been probably along with tom donilon, the people really worked with first when he took an interest in these issues. >> she has some sharp elbows. you write about this in your piece, just this month, which apparently one o